Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a blog post opposing choosing political allies based on whether or not they support cryptocurrencies.
Buterin highlighted legislative efforts in the United States, such as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) and the European Union’s Markets in Cryptocurrency Regulation (MiCA), as having encouraged individuals in the crypto space to become more politically active. However, these efforts are contrary to the spirit of crypto.
“There is a growing movement within the crypto space to be more politically active, almost entirely basing our preferences on whether or not we want to be tolerant and friendly to ‘crypto,’” Buterin wrote in a July 17 blog post, adding that “making decisions in this way runs the risk of going against the values that brought you into the space in the first place.”
Buterin goes on to argue that simply co-opting crypto supporters “helps create an incentive gradient where politicians understand that they can gain support simply by supporting cryptocurrencies,” even if those politicians support legislative efforts that would hinder the broader crypto ecosystem.
“All politicians need to do is make it easy for you to trade coins,” Buterin said.
Other thoughts from Mark Cuban
Unlike Buterin, billionaire Mark Cuban believes cryptocurrencies will be a deciding factor in this year’s U.S. presidential election. He even says that current President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden could lose his reelection bid because of his crypto policies.
“I’ve said many times that Biden has to choose between Gensler and the crypto voters or he could lose the White House,” Cuban said on June 10.
Kuban also noted that many voters will choose candidates based on their cryptocurrency policy stance. “Cryptocurrency is mainstream for young, independent voters,” Kuban said in early May. “The voice of crypto voters will be heard in this election.”
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About the Author
MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020, joining just before Bitcoin first broke $20,000. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering all aspects of crypto news but with a penchant for NFTs, metaverse, web3 games, fundraising, crime, hacking, and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program (SHERP) at New York University and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.